Instrument 2 of 4 · KX1 · S05

Why hot ions.

Fusion reactivity ⟨σv⟩ is the whole game: it sets how much power a plasma of a given density and temperature can make. These four curves are computed live from the verbatim Bosch–Hale coefficients in the deposit's kronos_physics.py. D–³He turns on an order of magnitude above D–T temperatures — that is the price. The payback: its products are charged, so their energy can be steered to direct conversion instead of absorbed as neutron heat, and the neutron budget drops to the 5.25 % the paper engineers for.

starting …

Log–log, 1–300 keV. The gold marker sits at the frozen Mode-C core ion temperature (65 keV). Hover for exact values. p–¹¹B uses the Nevins–Swain non-resonant fit — adequate for staging accounting; it remains the paper's gated Stage-3 endpoint, not a baseline claim.

The design consequence At 65 keV the D–³He curve is within reach of its peak while D–D remains suppressed — which is exactly why the staged schedule richens the mix rather than chasing temperature. The full argument, with the two-fluid tax stated honestly, is §2 of the design paper; the fuel program is WP03, “The Fuel That Barely Bites.”
The writeup

The plain-language paper behind this instrument: Two Throttles: Near-Thermal Baseline, Hot-Ion Upside · The Fuel That Barely Bites: D-³He and the 5.25% Neutron Budget.

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